Birdsong
Until Saturday
WHAT better timing than this 100th anniversary year of the outbreak of World War I for audiences to be transported back to the trenches in a powerful stage adaptation of Sebastian Faulkes’s novel Birdsong?
The popularity of the 1993 book meant the Wyvern was unusually full for this opening show of a five-night run, but it is testament to quality of the performances and the evocative storytelling that a spellbound silence was frequently cast over the stifling auditorium; all rustling of sweet wrappers and fanning of programmes suspended as we lived and breathed the terror of being a Tommy ordered over the top or the passion of a forbidden but all-consuming love affair.
This production is a well-timed revision of Rachel Wagstaff’s 2010 play, which won critical acclaim when it was staged in the West End. The set, simple but incredibly effective, remains static for the duration of the 130 minutes, with only the shifting of a few props here and there conveying a change in setting.
The clever simplicity makes for a seamlessness which shouldn’t really work with the nature of the plot, but somehow does, with soldier Stephen Wraysford’s story told through a series of delirious flashbacks as he lies seriously wounded in a battlefield hospital.
George Banks as Wraysford is utterly convincing, both as the naive and exuberant young man who falls for his French host’s wife, and later as the tormented Army officer struggling to accept the futility of war.
Peter Duncan as British Tommy Jack Firebrace also stands out, injecting an element of humour before tearing at the heartstrings as he loses his muckers and learns of the death of his eight-year-old son back home.
A dramatic end scene, in which these two men lie injured and trapped in a tunnel beneath No Man’s Land, pushes both actors to their peak, wringing every shred of emotion from an already-shattered audience.
Don’t expect a cheery, uplifting experience from Birdsong. Do expect a stunning piece of theatre that will stay with you long after the curtain falls. Lest we forget. - MICHELLE TOMPKINS
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